Cross-platform play: Do PC gamers want it?

As cross-platform play debuts with Shadowrun, we look at how it's eyed by PC gamers and developers

PC gamers have new enemies and/or friends: Xbox 360 gamers. Microsoft's launch of Shadowrun last week heralded the debut of cross-platform gaming, one of the major features introduced in Games for Windows - Live's paid-for service.

Naturally, it would be entirely unfair to judge the future prospects of cross-platform on one game alone, but is cross-platform gaming something PC gamers want? And what do developers reckon?

WHAT THE GAMERS SAY Tim Edwards, deputy editor on PC Gamer UK believes that cross-platform play, as demonstrated in Shadowrun, "is a dongle, a nice little bullet point on the back of the box."